President Obama snubbed Wall Street by not inviting any finance chiefs to discuss the fiscal cliff; other CEOs, from companies like PepsiCo and General Electric, received invitations. Here, Obama walks with U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You might think that the men leading the U.S. financial system might have an idea or two (or three) about what to do about the fiscal cliff, that series of tax hikes and spending cuts that threatens to hurtle the economy into recession. Wall Street, however, is not very welcome on Pennsylvania Avenue.

So it would seem after glancing at the list of corporate chieftains invited to the White House tomorrow to chat with the president about the fiscal cliff. It's a who's who of American power: Wal-Mart's Mike Duke, Ford's Alan Mulally and PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi will all stop by for an Oval Office talk with Obama. In all, 12 business titans will attend. And labor leaders will meet the president today; Congressional talks among Democrat and Republican leaders begin Friday.

Noticeably absent from the tally of those guests: any finance chiefs. No invite for JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon or Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein. Who needs to discuss tax cuts when you chat about diet cola, eh?

The snub by the president is not totally surprising. Wall Street underwent a tectonic shift in this last presidential campaign. The finance industry's allegiance moved to Republican candidate Mitt Romney after a major campaign of support for Obama four year earlier. Atop Romney's list of contributors: big banks like Goldman and JPMorgan. Meantime, wealthy money managers and investors gave generously to the super PAC backing Romney. "Sure, I am not getting invited to the White House anytime soon," hedge fund manager Dan Loeb told Dealbook as he watched the election results come in, "but as citizens of the country we are all friendly.”

What's some vilification among friends? That was Wall Street main complaint about Obama—that, after taking their money, Obama spent his first term labeling the folks in Financial District C-suites as fat cats and championing new financial regulation, like Dodd-Frank.

Wall Streeters pride themselves on investing wisely, trading smart and moving fast. Yet, these first-movers won't have a seat in discussions that will, without a doubt, have an enormous impact on their business; a recession would badly damage the financial markets and renew pressure on the strained system. Seems like the dollars that the finance chiefs sunk into Romney's (doomed) campaign could wind up as one of the worst investments of their careers.